Custom shoe designer surprised to hear Bradley Wiggins is a fan; Cyclist pushed off bike in ambush robbery; Former Tour de France leader banned; Sadiq Khan defends cycle lanes; Removal of bike lane delayed by protest + more on the live blog

Brad wearing our logo socks today 🔥🔥 https://t.co/IwMaJZOH3H

— The Shoe Dr. (@theshoedr_) November 10, 2020

Shea Gribbon was surprised to find out that Sir Bradley Wiggins is a fan of his work. The Irish graduate, who set up his custom designed cycling shoe business while at Coventry University, found out Wiggo had bought a pair of his shoes when he spotted a pair of the socks Shea throws in with every order in a picture Brad posted on Twitter. 

"Bradley happened to pull on the pair of socks I sent to his son before going out for a run one morning and shared a picture of himself on social media wearing them. That was pretty cool to see, and proved to be great promotion for my business," Shea explained.

The Shoe Dr. has also made a custom design for Harry Tanfield ahead of La Vuelta a España. Wiggins was in the news today after CyclingWeekly reported he had liquidated a third company with debts of £141,000. In October he liquidated two other companies which had debts of over £1 million.

Primoz Roglic has won Vélo magazine's prestigious Vélo d’Or prize for best cyclist of the year. Julian Alaphilippe was awarded the best French rider prize for the second-consecutive year. Roglic won four stages of the Vuelta a España, the race overall, Liège–Bastogne–Liège and was second at the Tour de France this year. Taking the prize from Alaphilippe, Roglic was humbled to win the award: "I went through the list of previous winners and saw it's really an important award," Roglic told L'Equipe.

"I want to take this opportunity to say a big thank you to the people who voted for me. I understood that it was a jury of journalists from all over the world, that's why it really touches me."

Alaphilippe did not come away empty handed, however, as he was awarded the French Vélo d’Or honour after a year that culminated in him becoming world champion in Imola.

"Primoz Roglic amply deserves this trophy. Last year, I had a big, big season to win it. It is in the logic of things that he wins it this year," Alaphilippe conceded.

"Winning the Vélo d’Or Français makes me very happy, it’s nice to see that my results didn’t go unnoticed and I was again named best French rider of the year, thus getting another trophy. This season has been a special and different one, with plenty of challenges, but I managed to achieve many of my goals and I can be satisfied with what I did, the world title I won in Italy being, of course, the cherry on the top.

"The rainbow jersey is the most beautiful in the world and wearing it in a few races before the season ended made me realise what a huge honour it is to have it. This gives me a lot of motivation for next year."

Logical, evidence led leadership 👏👏 https://t.co/8ZKvhqamJh

— Chris Boardman (@Chris_Boardman) December 3, 2020

London’s road to recovery cannot be clogged with cars. It has to be one Londoners can walk and cycle down as part of a greener, cleaner, healthier future.

That's why we're taking bold action to find new ways to help Londoners travel around our city.pic.twitter.com/Aj15817Emw

— Sadiq Khan (@SadiqKhan) December 3, 2020

Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, once again expressed his support for cycling infrastructure and said that "London's road to recovery cannot be clogged with cars." Answering questions on James O'Brien's LBC show, Khan said he was disappointed to see Kensington and Chelsea council approve the removal of the High Street cycle lane after a short trial period because of complaints from businesses and residents.

Khan said that many of the complaints weren't from residents, or even people who live in London. Answering a question about Kensington High Street, he said: "I've started to cycle again over the course of the last few months. I feel far more safe and confident cycling around our city now and what we've got to avoid is a car-led recovery. 

"The short answer is that Kensington High Street is the responsibility of the council. We're trying to persuade them to do the right thing for thousands of cyclists. We want to avoid a car-led recovery that leads to more carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide and London coming to a gridlock. We want more people walking and cycling, particularly because of our concerns about using public transport at rush hour.

"This council has persistently refused to have cycle lanes in their borough. This cycle lane is working really well, it's used by thousands of cyclists who feel safer using it. The council is ripping it out because a few people have signed a petition, many of them aren't residents and aren't even Londoners.

"We should let the cycle lane be in for some time and see how it works out. After a few months we can review it. We have already tweaked some across the city because there were issues. This seems to be a knee-jerk response which I'm definitely against."

The BBC reports that bikes could be in short supply this Christmas after a year when sales have rocketed as people sought outdoor exercise during the pandemic. To make matters worse, many manufacturers struggled to keep up when factories were forced to close as part of lockdown restrictions. Consequently some manufacturers now have huge backlogs to deal with during one of their busiest times of the year.

Paul Tomlinson, cycling director of Halfords, said: "There has been huge interest in cycling as the public seek alternatives to public transport and as a way of keeping fit. And as a result we've seen a massive surge in demand, with sales of bikes and cycling products up."

UK brand, Raleigh, were one of the manufacturers that struggled with factory closures. Managing director, Lee Kidger explained the problem saying: "There have been delays in products coming to the market, but the consumer appetite for bikes remains high. As consumers begin ticking off their Christmas shopping lists, there will likely be a shortage of bikes leading up to Christmas."

Result @XRebellionUK 1
@DailyMailUK 0

Illegal destruction by @RBKC of the segregated cycleway halted for one night by stopping works.

Well done @StopKillingCycl@DonnachadhMc

Now can it be made permanent?@ZackPolanski @CarolineRussell @sianberry @LBC@DailyMirror pic.twitter.com/uhWI25dawZ

— FergalMcEntee (@McEnteeFergal) December 3, 2020

Works to remove the bollards on Kensington High Street and reopen both lanes to motor traffic were delayed last night by a protest from Extinction Rebellion and Stop Killing Cyclists. The group blocked the lane and prevented the removal of infrastructure. Council documents show that of the first 1,000 emails they received about the lane, 58 per cent were in favour of it which some have suggested casts doubt on the council's claim that a large number of complaints was the reason for its planned removal.

The protesters then moved to Northcliffe House, the office of the Daily Mail and MailOnline. Yesterday a MailOnline employee called on the council to reverse their decision. Five local schools and Imperial College Union also expressed their support for the cycle lane, while the Kensington Business Forum released a statement saying the council's claim that the Forum asked for the lane to be removed was not true.

BREAKING: The Kensington High Street cycle lane will not be removed tonight 🎉🤸🏽‍♀️

Tomorrow the campaign to save it pushes on, follow: @betterstreetskc, @FoxPrimary & @London_Cycling 💫

Great video reporting tonight by @bearwitness2019pic.twitter.com/gXhZqd9yM3

— Extinction Rebellion London 🌍 (@XRLondon) December 2, 2020